I have my index cards ready:

I cannot recommend joining this challenge enough. Just creating for even 5-10 minutes a day sparks so many ideas. There is also a freedom that comes is using an index card for creating, a trick for your perfectionist mind.

I first joined in 2011 but life happened and I got away from it.

Last year I did the entire challenge and it was such a fantastic experience. I went into it with two goals, to finish, and to do as many of Tammy’s prompts as possible. I made NO other rules. I prepared some backgrounds on cards with extra paint and what have you so that on the days where I had nothing left, I had somewhere to start.

I also had a couple of times I basically completed two cards (or more) at the same time, and those back up cards were useful on the days where time got away from me. A couple of tweaks and I was good to go. Or an easy list scribbled down. No rules.

The biggest success factor for me last year was not to impose any rules on myself. In 2011 when I got behind I had so many rules in my head: I had to do both sides of the card, I had to do a card every day (it didn’t count if I did an extra card on another day where I had more time), if I got behind I HAD to catch up, each card had to be of a certain quality, it all just got too hard and I never got back to it after my life interrupted for a week. Last year there was none of that.

Last year I finished the challenge.

First set*:

Second Set*:

I pulled the cards out yesterday and I was amazed holding them in my hand. I had forgotten all about some of them, and the ideas that had been sparked. It was such a treat holding them in my hand, and I decided to bind them.  I pulled out my Alisa Golden bookbinding book.

I decided to make it very easy on myself. One of the joys of ICAD is the experimentation so I went into the binding with that in mind (two different binding methods). I used a cardboard envelope I received in the post as my covers and punched a couple of holes in the covers and the cards. No measuring, just by sight.

I LOVE THESE. Such a joy to hold these little books in my hand.

This year I have my cards ready and only two goals. To finish and to use only collage. Collage scares me a little so I thought index cards are the perfect place to challenge myself with this medium.

Get your cards ready now and join in, there is such a lovely community spirit that forms over these little cards, and you get to connect with so many new people.

No rules. Dip in or out. You will be surprised at how much it adds to your creative well, and how many ideas it sparks.

* Mosaic photo links:

First set:
1. Icad #1, 2. Icad #2, 3. Icad 3, 4. Icad 4, 5. Icad 5, 6. Icad 6, 7. Icad 7, 8. Icad 8, 9. Icad 9, 10. Icad 10, 11. Icad 11, 12. Icad 12, 13. Icad 13, 14. Icad 14, 15. Icad 15 – Part 1, 16. Icad 15 – Part 2, 17. Icad 16, 18. Icad 17, 19. Icad 18, 20. Icad 19, 21. Icad 20, 22. ICAD 21, 23. ICAD 22, 24. ICAD 23, 25. ICAD 24, 26. ICAD 25, 27. ICAD 26, 28. ICAD 27, 29. ICAD 28, 30. ICAD 29, 31. ICAD 30, 32. ICAD 31, 33. Icad 32, 34. Icad 33, 35. Icad 34, 36. Icad 35

Second set:
1. Icad 36, 2. Icad 37, 3. Icad 38, 4. Icad 39, 5. Icad 40, 6. Icad #41, 7. Icad #42, 8. Icad #43, 9. Icad #44, 10. Icad #45, 11. Icad #46, 12. Icad #47, 13. Icad #48, 14. Icad #49, 15. Icad #50, 16. Icad 51, 17. Icad 52, 18. Icad 53, 19. Icad 54, 20. Icad 55, 21. Icad 56: Background 1, 22. Icad 56: Background 2, 23. Icad 57, 24. Icad 58, 25. Icad 59, 26. Icad 59 Close up, 27. Icad 60, 28. Icad 60 close up, 29. Icad 61, 30. 61 Index cards!

You will need some resin, paper, some plastic protective sheet for the table you are working on (and to let the paper dry) and a sponge.

I would note at this stage that after making two lots of resin paper my sponge was pretty much dead, so do not use one that you are overly fond off and want to keep reusing.  In fact those cheap disposable sponge brushes would be most excellent for this.

The plastic I used was a shopping bag made with some heavy duty plastic that I cut up.  You may have one of those non-stick craft sheets or the like which I assume will work just as well.

I had some resin and so used what I had, I assume all brands will work the same on this technique.

I grabbed a variety of paper: tissue paper, pattern paper, rice paper, book text, scrapbooking paper, and some good scrapbooking paper that was akin to cardstock almost. I was experimenting a little as well as doing this tutotial. :)

I made the resin up according to the instructions on the bottles and assembled all the supplies.

This is one side of the book text paper complete. You get the resin on the sponge and then you are almost pushing it into the paper to saturate it. So swiping slowly and imagining that resin soaking into the paper fibres. Gently but firmly. (Noting that tissue paper needs more gentle than firm!!) Here you can see that you can start to see the text from the other side of the page beginning to poke through.

This is what the other side looked like. You can see there are still some patches of white on the page where the resin has not soaked through to the other side (hence why I do both sides).

This is the complete page, where you can see the words from both sides and the paper is thoroughly saturated.

I then did the same for all the papers, this is the scrapbook cardstock paper, and you can see how the back is starting to go very translucent.

This is all the papers laid out to dry. They take a little while. You will know when they are dry because they will not be tacky anymore. This can take a varying amount of time. The scrapbooking paper and book text took 24 hours. The tissue paper took longer, and because I was impatient I removed it early and it ripped into bits on me as I was removing from the plastic sheet. Looing at it now when it has been a couple of weeks, I should have left it for maybe another day. It was slightly tacky when I removed the tissue paper, but it feels very strong now.

This photo is to show that there was in fact something in the middle of the plastic!! It just went white and clear! It was the rice paper and tissue paper.

When you pull it off the plastic pull up slowly, like you are almost peeling it off, if that makes sense.

Here are some of the results. I have held them up against a window so you can see the magical nature of it. Almost translucent and they glow almost. I am looking forward to cutting these into stones!!

On the book text you can see that you can see both sides of the book text clearly.

This picture is off the same scrapbooking paper that I cut in half. One half has been resined and one hasn’t.

You can see that it has not lost as much as the colour as the photo suggests, it is just the light shining through it. On the floor, without the light there is still a lot of colour, though it is slightly more muted. (The resin paper is on the left)

This is just the resin paper up to the light!

This is the cardstock resin paper from the back, so you can see that you can’t see any white at all now. (The above scrapbooking paper is the same).

This is the tissue paper, that I am holding so you can see how glass like it is, with my finger behind it.

All truly magical. I hope this is helpful if you are interested at all!  :)

By Cathy Johnson

This is a beautiful book. It is in the vein of recording the moments of your life with illustrations, and Cathy Johnson makes the distinction of using an “artist’s journal” rather than an art journal. It is a personal journal kept by you as an artist, but don’t think you need to be an accomplished artist because that is not what she is saying at all. This is merely a book for recording your life, elevating the everyday aspects that contribute towards the whole of our lives, whether that be the way the light catches a flower in the garden, our shopping lists and numbers we collect, to the way our child looks when they are sleeping. All ideas and experiments welcome!

Cathy’s use of pen and paint is stunning. Her pen work is beautiful. There are also other artist’s pages scattered throughout the book.

There are boxes of “tips” and ideas to try, but mostly this book is just fill of inspiration that makes you want to begin recording your own life. There are no step by step projects, but she does go through all sorts of potential materials at the start of the book with a commentary on how to get the most out of your art supplies.

The book has 5 chapters. Chapter one is devoted to the basics including potential supplies and you figuring out what sort of journal you want to keep and what the purpose will be. Chapter 2 is about testing out different supplies and experiments you can do in the pages to see what your supplies can do and work out what supplies call to you. It also covers some design and composition ideas.

One of the most genius common-sense things I got out of this book is the experiment she did with an artist grade watercolour set and a student set, and the difference it makes prewetting your palette. The colours, no matter what set was used were so much more vibrant with just a quick spray of water a minute before you are ready to get started.

Chapter 3 looks at the different potential journals you can have including daily journals, travel journals, memory journals, nature journal, dream and imagination journals, and reportage journals. Chapter 4 covers making journaling a habit and ideas for integrating journaling into your daily life. This chapter asks a lot of questions of you to get to the heart of what you want your journaling experience to be. This chapter includes ideas for different spread layouts and how you can begin.

Chapter 5 is titled ‘Pulling it all Together’ and it does!! She considers questions of style, favourite techniques and subjects of the featured artists and herself, and also recognising what doesn’t work for you. It also contains ideas for going forward and new things to try.

There is also a good resource spread in the book, with featured artist information, books and classes you may want to look at.

The book is really well written and is very clear, the information is very fulsome, and complete.

As well as Cathy’s work which I loved, (her portraits of her husband are beautiful), I was particularly inspired by the work of these artists that were featured in her book:

• Ellen Burkett
• Roz Stendahl
• Fred Crowley
• Lapin
• Pam Johnson Brickell
• Danny Gregory
• Pat Southern-Pearce (Check out her palette knife set which really EXCITED me)
• Hannah Hinchman
• Catriona Andrews

I really recommend this book, it has something to inspire beginners to more experienced painters and good ideas for sparking your creativity and developing your skills.

Alas, no neon signs have appeared yet!  :D

This week I have felt on the precipice of something.  An unknown something, so not the most comfortable of feelings to be honest.

In relation to what I am on the precipice about I have no idea.  So I carry on regardless (as you do, what other choice is there!?) and I am sure one way or the other it will all become clear when it should.

Inspired by Teresa’s weekly noting practice of 52 cards where in her words:

Each Friday, I create a small collage using a playing card and random elements. My mission is to creatively document the keywords, colors and.or lessons of each week; and create a visual mile marker of each week’s lessons} on Saturday.

The practice of taking time each week to reflect and focus has been an invaluable practice and I feel I am noticing many moments and thoughts I previously may have missed.  As I looked through my cards today I realised just how valuable these markers were, and I appreciated the distance I have travelled in just 12 weeks.

My first bit of link love this week is going to the blog Visual Blessings. My gosh, her lettering work is DIVINE! See here and here for examples (but really check out all her work!).  While I was just there grabbing the lettering links I saw this beauty, and quite a few other examples I could point you towards, so really, just go over and explore the art journal goodness over there.

The work of Mayako Nakamura.  I LOVE the paint work combined with the line work, the colours, the energy.  LOVE.  Such an inspiration to me.  Also her Tumblr account.  Then there is her Flickr account.  Be still my heart!  Love her work.  So easy to get lost in her story telling.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE her work!? :)

Next is Mindy Lacefield.  I love her work, her freedom and raw expression.  The truth she speaks with her figures and line work (not to mention her use of neon).  Such a wonderful energy, that is inspiring people all over the internet at the moment.  I love the video on this post.  I have taken a few of her classes and love how she creates with such expressive mark making and story telling.  (Also she links to the work of Anne Patay in that post and you should most certainly wander down that rabbit hole while you are over there!)

My next bit of linky love is going to Pixie Campbell.  I have loved her offerings for so long.  There is something in her work and in her words that speaks directly to my soul.  She has a new course coming up that calls to me loudy beckoning me to join.  But what I am point you to today is that I have just discovered she is offering the material from one of her Soulodge classes for FREE (be sure to scroll down to JULY 2-AUGUST 5 SUMMER SOULODGE: STRONG & VITAL VOICE with WHALE).  She explains why in this post, to help strengthen our own voices, and it is such a beautiful offering. It felt like Christmas when I found it last week, and perfect timing for the discovery. (Also she has just announced Sacred Grit TV (oh how I love that name!), which you can find over here.

My last bit of linky love for today is going to Kate Crane of The Kathryn Wheel.  I love this post, with so many glorious examples of her work, and a video of her junk journal, it makes me want a spiral binder machine very badly!  You can see images of the junk journal here.  The calendars she does each month are just beautiful and inspiring (See April here).  I do monthly calendar pages in my planner, but she has inspired me to put a bit more effort in.  :)   Look at these little houses of adorableness…honestly I could have kept linking so you must all go explore the painty mark-making goodness for yourself.  You WILL come away inspired.

I hope you are all having a most wonderful glorious weekend.  Autumn is definitely here and our fire is roaring away as gray skies and rain have descended upon us.  I have enjoyed the magic of watching autumn leaves falling from the trees like autumnal confetti today, though it also means the drains will have to be cleared (bags not me!). :)

Now I have a good book to get lost in when the children are tucked up in bed so I am off to facilitate that process a little faster than the dawdle it currently is.

Autumn is definitely rocking my world this week.  In particular the display put on by the trees – the bright reds and yellows are beautiful and watching the way the light hits them at certain times is magically breathtaking and I am grateful for the noticing.

What has also rocked my week this week is going through my phone attempting to organise photos taken over the summer, which means I have relived moments of afternoon boating, and attending light festivals:

Victoria made this necklace for me to wear this week, with the S standing for Super Mum, which was nice, especially because two days earlier I was the worstest Mum that she has ever known.

It was also Mother’s Day over the weekend and to celebrate we went to the new Star Trek movie. There was one point at the movie that I did the Vulcan live long and prosper sign and I happened to glance over at the children and saw they were both doing it as well. A very proud moment for me, though there was much eye rolling and exasperation from their father. :D

Mother’s Day was actually perfect lovely and quiet, with a cooked breakfast and an effort made to behave all day.  I felt very loved and seen and it was wonderfully relaxing.  I also got to get the paints out which was especially wonderful.

I also met up with someone who I had connected with over facebook, and it was the most fabulous blind date I have ever had. I cannot believe how excited I am about the prospects of actual art dates with someone who lives in the same city that I do!!!! So, so amazing and in love with the internet!

Also I have begun a “penpal” connection with someone who I met through the internet and arting, who has removed herself from online for the moment, and the joy of getting real letters and beginning a collaborative art exchange has been a joy-filled connection this week.

All in all a good week, with no real complaints from here.  The children both had a good week at school, both children have been making their lunch all week (Victoria’s looks a little battered around the edges but she feels very proud of herself, and I got an extra few moments in bed reading in the morning.  Now that homework challenge is finished I am wondering if it will continue!  Victoria also brought home her first chapter book and there is something quite heart warming seeing both of your children snuggled up with a book.

So grateful for this practice as well, because honestly when I first began to write I was feeling a bit flat and thought this was going to be a bit scant, but with taking the time to notice, I realise that actually my week has had PLENTY of rocking moments, so thank you to Virginia and the other rockettes for inspiring me to look and to notice!

Another big week, with the questions being asked and actual answers sought with details and dreaming.

Not a lot of art journal pages this week.  I remember at the start when I was doing quite a few I worried I was actually going to run out of pages by the end, but I am not sure that will still be the case, although I don’t know what the last three weeks hold.  Needless worrying, and maybe some preparation by my inner critic for me to fail miserably for another time as I tried to go through this book.

Also, I have to mention here for the people that were worried about the amount of “God-ness” in the book, that I can’t remember the last time I read about God.  From memory it was only in the few few chapters (almost aiding you in setting up a foundation) so if you are interested in this book then don’t let that put you off.

So this week.  Again a lot of doing and writing.  More affirmations (I don’t know if I use them properly or if there is even a proper way, but I do repeat them when I remember, but if there is a proper way to use them, then please feel free to let me know!); gathering of symbols and another vision board!  Journaling on creative goals and getting to the nitty gritty of what that success means at various milestones.

The one task I haven’t done is to go through my morning pages with a highlighter, but that will be taking place this weekend (exciting plans around here! :)).

Here is the vision board for this week.

This week is very much about having compassion for your inner artist and talks about the way we talk to ourselves and label ourselves as lazy. It also discusses our creative u-turns where we are close to achieving something or doing something and then we sabotage our efforts at the last minute.  It also gives you a strategy for confronting any resistance or resentment about any projects we are working on and working through it…the chapter of no more excuses!!  :)

The quotable quotes from Julia Cameron this week are:

Setting impossible goals creates enormous fear, which creates procrastination, which we wrongly call laziness.  Do not call procrastination laziness.  Call it fear.

We get more sympathy as crippled artists than as functional ones.  Those of us addicted to sympathy in the place of creativity can become increasingly functional.

A successful creative career is always built on successful creative failures.  The trick is to survive them.

Faced with a creative U-turn, ask yourself, “Who can I ask for help about this U-turn?” Then start asking.

All my morning pages have been completed so far, and they have been worth their weight i gold this week just to process the resistance I have felt and the questions I am mulling over.

I feel very much like I am on the precipice of …something…what that turns out to be will become known eventually I am sure.  The unnknown-ness is causing some unease however, but I am naming it and in naming it, it becomes less of a potential obstacle.  :)

Pondering next steps and new answers.

Journaling and conversing with friends.  Listening, and more thinking.  Exchanging ideas.  Moving forwards and making plans, charting milestones.

Getting down to the nitty gritty.

My first bit of link love this week is Christine Mason Miller.  I love her work, her words and her art.  I have both of her books and they are both filled with wisdom.  I have a collection of her postcards and art, and I am a fan.  Last week I reread this and it felt so full of truth.  It really touched me in one of those gut punches, that almost leave you gasping for air with the truth of the words.

My next bit of linky love is to a blog that has not yet been updated this year, but the work is so glorious I am linking to it anyway so that anybody who has not yet seen her work can go over immediately and be inspired. Go now!  Such visceral raw work.  I love the lines and mark making.  LOVE.

This artist! oh my gosh.  His art is incredible.  INCREDIBLE.  The detail. And layers.  Go back more than once and you will see even more the second time that you missed the first time.  So inspiring.  His work will take your breath away.

I am currently rediscovering my love for watercolour, but I remembered when I first fell in love with the vibrancy of watercolours and what they could be it was on this blog here.  Her work is incredible.  Her Flickr…be still my heart.  She did a video series a few years ago, and if you are interested in watercolour or painting you may want to check it out.  :)

My last bit of Link Love for the week is going to Michelle at Lost Coast Post.  There is a lot to love about her blog.  She is currently working through a series of characters and monsters that I have fallen in love with.  Last week I was inspired by her Watercolour Wednesday post and realised she had done a few Watercolour Wednesday’s that are very informative, so if you want to explore watercolour this would be a most excellent resource for you to explore.  :)

And that is it.  It is Mother’s Day here today, and so if it is Mother’s Day where you are then I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day, and even if it isn’t I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day anyway!!  :)

I love this tutorial.  LOVE.

I made up some of these pamphlet postcard books courtesy of Carla Sonheim’s Imaginary Animals book.  These books are AMAZING.  They fold flat, you can fold each page right around on itself so it becomes a back page.  They sit beautifully while you are working on them.  LOVE.  I became addicted to making them and made six of them (though as of today have only worked in one, other than this), so I grabbed one to use for this tutorial.

I didn’t get a photo right at the start, but here is a photo in the early stages:

Here are the finished pages:

And here is the book half finished (the other side of the pages are incomplete! :))

I adore this tutorial and playing with my oil pastels. I totally loved just playing and the shading I could get with layered oil pastels. I felt like I gained more control and confidence over my oil pastels with this tutorial and I am very grateful. I also discovered I really like my turquoise pastel as a face shading colour.

(Or possibly I just really love turquoise and try to find an excuse to use it on every piece of work I do!)